Page 4-Wednesday, November 28, 1979-The Michigan Daily
C

Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom

Future of space program lies
in the Carter administration

Vol. LXXXX, No. 68

News Phone: 764-0552

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

The election is over but
the fight has just begun
N OW THAT this year's LSA-SG a problem student government should
election is history, the winners further investigate.
can concentrate on the vital issues Across the country, the theme of
destined to affect students in the up- restraint is echoed everywhere. The
coming year. The campaign rhetoric upcoming decade will be one of tense
will now be dissected to determine competition and struggles by various
whether this governing body has any departments to remain alive in the
power or if it's just another weak and University. Many expect the
ineffective voice of students. escalating budget constraints to
The test will be tough, the respon- reduce some programs, and cut off
sibilities awesome. But the challenge many others. It will not be an easy
remains to somehow offset the time.
dominating role the University ad- Therefore, it will be especially im-
ministration holds in the decision- portant for students - specifically,
making process. There is no question LSA-SG - to communicate their ideas
that students have very little say on and preferences to help insure that the
this campus. Very little. wisest and most educational programs
Yet, with each new inauguration of remain intact. There will be countless
an elected student governing body, the tough decisions, and students should
hopes for change run high. Looking at have some say in them.
this year's crop of representatives who Tenure. Why have students been
will be crowned tonight, the annual relegated to an almost meaningless
aspirations take on an even higher role when it comes to deciding who will
significance. Among the group to guide teach them? While faculty members
the University's largest college into insist teaching qualifications are
the next decade, there are plenty of given considerable weight in
capable and experienced students. evaluating a professor for tenure,
From this rich core, the possibilities some recent decisions have shown that
are endless. But so are the challenges. might not be the case. The new
.The governing body must find a representatives should work
solution to the ever-increasing vigorously to see that each department
problem of minority enrollment in this in the college has students on the
institution. As the failures of the executive committee, with the
outgoing decade tragically demon- ultimate goal of student votes in final
strate, the University has not fulfiled tenure decisions.
its commitmeiits to accepting more These are just a few of the problems
minority students. The attrition rate of to be tackled, many others remain.
blacks who do enroll here is shocking, Good luck to the new government.
kWelcome back, China
71OR THE FIRST time in 32 years, political quarrels.
F the upcoming summer Olympic Unfortunately, as long as the games
Games will reflect the reality of the host competing nations, these nations
world instead of the usual political fan- will continue to bring political
tasyland - the People's Republic of bickering and regional quarrels into a
China will resume her rightful place forum designed to accommodate only
under her flag and national anthem in athletic conflict. Sometimes, such
international athletic competition. mingling of politics with athletics is
For a generation, ever since the basic to the furthering of essential
communist victory in China on October human rights - for example,-the in-
1, 1949, the world followed the lead of ternational boycott of South Africa in
the West' - specifically the United athletics, for instance, as recognition
States - in bemoaning the "yellow of the inhumane system existing in
peril" breaking off relations with the that country.
legitimate Peking regime, and main- But when such politicization would
taining the illusion that the Nationalist deny entry into the Olympics of the
exiles on Taiwan would one day, most populous nation on earth, then
somehow retake the mainland. politics has taken the center stage, and
But after a decade of carrying on this the competition among athletes
facade, the world is now ready to ac- becomes secondary.
cept communist China, and the read- In Moscow, in 1980, there is the
mission to the Olympics marks an im- potential for further politicization of
portant stage of China's reentry into the sporting event - the competition
the world. hosted by the Soviets will invariably
That the world's most populous become another forum for the tired old
Nation was forced to go for so long East-West conflict. Taiwan most likely
unrepresented at this athletic forum in will boycott the games, since their
itself is a statement on the ignorance of status as China's representative has
%hose who chose to ignore China's been exposed as a crock.
existence for so long. That the Olympic Perhaps one day, the Olympic
games, the traditional forum for games will return for what they were
Athletic competition among nations, meant to be - the competition of in-
would have gone so long recognizing dividuals, instead of governments. But
the Nationalist Chinese facade makes such a time can come only after the

a similar statement on the cessation of all regional conflicts
politicization of the one competitive around the globe, and that is truly only
forum that should remain free of a utopian dream. ---_-

By Tim Yagle
America's space shuttle,
recently dealt another setback by
an engine failure, faces critical
crossroads this week when
President Carter personally
reviews the troubled project.
The president probably would
-not have taken such a keen in-
terest in the program a few mon-
ths ago. But the shuttle is
becoming more vital to this coun-
try's national defense and the
White House is counting on it as a
major tool to verify Russian
compliance with arms limitation
agreements.
CARTER WANTS to know
about the technical and financial
problems plaguing the ambitious
project from a team of White
House consultants who recently
investigated the program's
progress.
One of them, former astronaut
William Anders said the first
flight of the shuttle will be riskier
than his Apollo 8 journey, man's
first flight to the vicinity of the
moon.
Dr. Robert Frosch, chied ad-
ministrator for the National
Aeronautics- and Space Ad-
ministration (NASA) is
scheduled to brief President Car-
ter on the program this week. He
said in recent testimony before a
Congressional committee that
NASA would need a "several
hundred million dollar" addition
to the shuttle's current allocation
(about $2 billion) to get it back on
the track. Carter is expected to
endorse the additional funding
for national defense purposes, a
NASA spokesman said recently.
THE SHUTTLE, roughly as tall
as the Physics-Astronomy
building, is expected to cut the
cost of space transporation by as
much as 90 percent because it is
reusable. The missile-like air-
craft with wings was scheduled to
blast off on its maiden voyage
last March. But repeated engine
and electronics problems, plus
inept management, and faulty
thermal protection tiles, all have
contributed to an irritating and
frustrating series of launch
delays. '
Frosch told Congress last week
there is a 10 per cent chance the
shuttle's maiden flight will occur
next April, a 50 per cent chance
by July, and a 90 per cent chance
by September.
In a written report to the White
House, Frosch claimed the shut-
tle program was behind from the-
beginning because of underfun-
ding. NASA reportedly was
afraid to challenge the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
for more money. Space agency
spokesman Brad Marman said in
a recent interview that NASA
took a "we can make do with it
(our current allocation) and let

NASA expects the space shuttle to be its workhorse until the next century. It will revolutionize space
travel by cutting transportation costs by an estimated 90 per cent because it is reusable. The missile-like
aircraft will perform several duties, including launching new satellites into orbit and repairing old ones,
and will aid in the construction of a space colony, which is still in the planning stages.

the future take care of itself" at-
titude. NASA has adopted the
wrong attitude if it has plans to
get any more -money from
Congress because it appears the
space agency is riding on the
tremendous success of Apollo and
they incorrectly believe they can
plan financially the same way for
the shuttle. But the space agency
has already admitted the
program was underfunded from
the beginning. So NASA's budget
planners evidently are not
looking at funding for thershuttle
realistically. So Frosch must
present a comprehensive and
persuasive plan todCarter to get
more money needed for the shut-
tles.
MARMAN SAID NASA of-
ficials are "hopeful" Carter will
approve the necessary ap-
propriation. He also said the
White House recently told the
OMB it's tight-fisted policy
towards the shuttle has not been
in thennation's or the president's
best interests.
Anders aded, "if there is a
credibility gap, it appears to me
to be more due to inadequate
communication between the top
level (Congress, 0MB, and the
Defense Department) thanto
some major programmatic
weakness in NASA."
According to a recent issue of
Aviation Week and Space
Technology, the aerospace in-
dustry's prominent trade jour-
nals. House conferees agreed to
allocate half of the requested $65
million to NASA for the shuttle at
a Nov. 15 hearing. The Senate will
reportedly press for the full
amount. Meanwhile, the shuttle's
manifest (payload schedule) is
booked solid until June, 1984.

WITH SO MANY annoying and
embarrassing launch delays, the
American public is probably
becoming quite disillusioned with
NASA and whether the shuttle is
worth both the effort and the
money. The prospects of laun-
ching the shuttle only a year late
are good. But compared to the
launch schedule of the gargan-
tuan Saturn V booster rocket (the
Apollo launch vehicle) the shuttle
is proceeding at a rapid pace. The
more than 500-foot high Saturn V,
was launched two years late
mainly because of the new
technology NASA technicians
had to deal with in sending a man
to the moon. The same holds true
for the shuttle. While new
technology certainly isn't the
only reason for .the delays, when
one considers what the shuttle is
actually going to do, problems
are bound to occur. One must also
view the purpose of the shuttle in
a different light from the
President's view. Yes, it will help
the U.S. monitor Russian com-
pliance with SALT II once it
passes the Senate, but the
possibilities in the realm of
progressive spacerexploration
and solar energy research are
limited only by man's
imagination. One of the payloads
designed for a Spacelab mission
on the shuttle is a giant telescope
which would be used by scientists
while orbiting the earth in the
shuttle. The primary benefit here
is viewing outer space without
the earth's polluted atmosphere
to distort a celestial body's true
image. According to NASA, the
telescope was to have been a 152-
inch reflecting model. But due
reportedly to inadequate funding
the diameter of the lense may be
cut in half. Congree apparently

doesn't realize how a telescope of
that size (the famous telescope on
Mount Palomar is 200 inches in
diameter)could advance obser-
vational astronomy and enable
astronomers to see further into
the galaxy than ever before.
THE SHUTTLE will also be
used to launch and repair various
communications, meterological
and land satellites, among
others, which will improve the
overall quality of life on earth. As
an orbiting space laboratory, the
shuttle will operate in a way
reminiscent of the Skylab days
almost five years ago. Theshut-
tle's lab may even approach
Skylab's unparalled success (a
$2.6 billion project which netted
more than $50 billion in practical
benefits) and it should provide
scientists from the world over
with the eagerly-awaited oppor-
tunity to conduct such ex-
periments many neverbefore
thought possible. It should also
rejuvenate the Americana
public's interest in this country's.g
space program since the human
element again will be a factor.
America cannot afford not to
take advantage of the myriad of
benefits the shuttle can give us,
and I believe President Carter
realizes this. With the numerous
kinds of experiments planned for
the shuttle, like Apollo and
Skylab, it will not be lone before
the shuttle pays for itself again
and again with practical and
everyday benefits everyone can
enjoy.

Tim Yagle is a Daily staff
writer.


Letters to the Daily


To the Daily:
The need to clarify a gross
misunderstanding about the
issues and purpose of the "Anti-
Iran" Rally held on the Diag last
Friday, 16 November
necessitates this letter. The
Rally's sponsor, The United
American Party (UAP), had in-
tended to hold the rally deman-
ding freedom for the hostages
held in Iran. The signs the party
carried had slogans such as
"Satan America? To Hell with
Iran", "Don't submit to Iranian
Terrorism", and "Iran: Murder
ONE hostage and face a
declaration of War", all the signs
addressed their attention to the
outrage in Iran. As the rally was
about to begin a Communist
sponsored demonstration began
to march against the UAP's rally.
The UAP did not intend to con-
front the communists but, merely
give several speeches to the
various potential outcomes to the
situation in Iran. It was believed
that the rally would not go the full
hour, the UAP had even declined
the use of microphones.
As the UAP began to
give its speeches to the
crowd several commun-
ist and other "anti-
American's" approached them
and started to argue with the

The flag waving, the burning of
Khomieni in effigy, and the
singing were the actions of many
people. At no time did the UAP
advocate the harrassment of
Iranians in America, NUKING
IRAN, or military adventure to
rescue "the hostages. It is true
that the UAP did advocate the
threat of War toward Iran, but
only in the event of the murder of
the hostages themselves; any
other advocation of military pur-
suit would be agreeably sen-
seless.
Therefore it is unfortunate that
this paper mentioned an obser-
ver's quote to the effect that "the
communists are here and the
fascists are there." Whereas it
was true that communists were
one place there were not any
fascists present at the UAP rally.
Any equivocation on the readers
or observers part of the UAP and
fascists would be a tremendous
gross error. This newspaper,, in
realizing this unfortunate
assumption was made by some,
is hereby showing its noble and
just responsibiloity toward those
concerned by printing this letter.
For the record, the UAP was a
party formed by about thirty in-
dividuals, mostly students, who
are concerned over the apathy by
which many crucial issues today

the calculated communist sub-
version of their rally and the sub-
sequent article in this paper, the
UAP voted last Sunday to
disband. It was thought that
having once attained a "fascist"
image,, even though it would
be proven a totally false one when
honestly considered, the party
would have had to devote too
much energy to this effect to be of
any further use. Perhaps at some
future date many of you will look
for a party like the UAP which
provided students with a non-
radical voice toward national
issues, only to find empty hopes.
-Theodore Kanakis
To the Daily:
We noted with disappointment
the Daily's failue to mention the
presence of the Farm Labor
Organizing Committee (FLOC)
and Baldemar Velasquez
(president of FLOC) at Cesar
Chavez' talk on November 13
(11/14, p. 10). The omission
seems almost deliberate, con-
sidering the proportion of time
accorded Velasquez and the ex-
plicit support given by Chavez
himself to FLOC and the Cam-
pbell's and Libby's boycott.
Tomato-pickers in northern
Ohio, organized by FLOC, have

Perhaps the struggle is too un-
comfortably close to home.
Perhaps no one wants to hear
about farmworkers in the mid-
west-after, all this is football
season. Whatever the rationale,
apprently the Daily is content to
make celebrity news of politics
even when the celebrities them-
selves are working to direct at-
tention to the real issues and
related struggles.
-Katherine Yih
John vandermeer
Ann Arbor FLOC
Support Group
To the Daily,
I sympathize with R. J. Smith.
It probably is torture to spend
four hours listening to music you
don't like by a band you don't
know much about with people in
every state but straight. And,
yes, to listen to the twenty-odd
albums the Dead have made in
the past 15 years is to hear many
different "forms of folk, soul,
funk, boogie-till-you-puke, and
Not Fade Away," to paraphrase
Smith. (I can lend you some
albums if you'd like some ex-
posure.) And, yes, after 15 years
of playing together they have

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